Tag Archives: chicken pot pie

Yesterday was the 6 month anniversary of my first date with the boyfriend!

Over the last 6 months we’ve traveled through two countries, multiple states and several cities, we’ve attended an Elite Eight basketball game, beer festivals and music festivals, spent holidays together and overall, just had a whole lot of fun!

While I love everything we do together, I still have to say that one of my favorite things is cooking for him! The first meal I ever made him was Three Cheese Manicotti with Italian Sausage Marinara. I had been taking notes since our first date of the things he liked and he mentioned that manicotti was his favorite meal, ricotta was his favorite cheese and how much he loved Italian sausage, so I combined them all into what is still his favorite dish that I cook for him!

Last week, I came up with another “Kurt Inspired Recipe” for Cajun Chicken Pot Pie. He loves Cajun food, pot pies and puff pastry, so I combined them all into the best chicken pot pie I’ve ever had in my life!

Having great friends is one of the best gifts in life. Having great friends who gift you Williams Sonoma gift cards for Christmas, even better!

Being the impatient person that I am, I couldn’t wait to use my gift card after Christmas! You see, “Balling on a Blogger Budget” does not generally allow for shopping at fancy kitchen stores such as Williams Sonoma on the regular, so when I had the opportunity I was beyond excited!

I decided to take an hour (maybe 2, who are we kidding!) and peruse the store to make sure I spent my gift card wisely! I wanted to take this opportunity to buy “fun things” for the kitchen that I normally wouldn’t splurge on. For example, this lovely little Mini Tart Baking Set.

At $29.99, I felt like the value was there and it still left room on the gift card to purchase other little goodies as well!

Now when most people purchase this Mini Tart Baking Set, they probably intend on bringing it home and baking a sweet little dessert in it. My first thought? Mini Buffalo Chicken Pot Pies. Because traditional Chicken Pot Pies are so 1960’s!

The spicy kick of the buffalo sauce and cayenne pepper is delicious and the miniature-ness (did I just create a new word? I think I did, and I like it!) makes them perfect for snacks, parties and game day grub!

Ingredients (makes 24 mini pies)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

½ cup buffalo sauce

2 cups chicken broth

½ cup frozen peas

½ cup chopped carrots

½ cup celery

1 tbsp olive oil

½ onion (thinly sliced)

3 cloves garlic (minced)

¼ cup flour

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp celery salt

½ tsp paprika

¼ cup milk

¼ cup blue cheese dressing

½ cup panko bread crumbs

¼ cup parmesan cheese

2 tbsp green onions (chopped) (optional topping)

Pie crust

1 ½ cups flour

¼ tsp salt

½ cup cold butter (quartered)

¼ cup ice-cold water

Begin by preparing the pie crust. I used my food processor simply because it was a gift from my amazing parents for Christmas and I wanted to try out the dough blade 🙂 The dough can also be prepared by hand mixing.

Start by mixing the flour and salt.

Then add the butter and mix into a course crumble. Next add the cold water. Start with about half the amount of water, then add as needed until a solid (but not sticky) dough forms.

Form the dough into a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator while preparing the chicken pot pie filling (about 30 minutes).

To prepare the filling begin by pressure cooking the chicken breasts. (If you do not have a pressure cooker, simply boil the chicken.)

Next, remove the chicken breasts from the broth and use that broth to cook the veggies! (Totally better than spending $3 on store-bought chicken broth!)

Shred the chicken and toss with the buffalo sauce.

Bring 2 cups of the broth to a boil in a medium pot, then add the carrots, celery and peas.

Cook for 5-7 minutes. In the meantime add the olive oil to a separate pan and sauté the onions and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Then stick a fork in it, try a bite and attempt not to eat it all straight out of the pan! (This step is optional, but as I like to say, it’s optional-ly awesome!)

Next, prepare the mini tarts.

I’m not going to lie, if you want to splurge on something fun for the kitchen, this baking set is it! I did a little happy dance while I made my first pan of tarts!

These could also be made by simply using a round pastry cutter and muffin pan.

Next, fill these babies up with a heaping spoonful of the buffalo chicken filling.

Instead of topping these with another layer of dough, I decided to top them with panko breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese to form the top crust.

My first idea was to incorporate another one of my amazing Williams Sonoma purchases.

Because who doesn’t need a torch in their kitchen?

Unfortunately I didn’t have the best of luck with my first attempt at torching. There were more breadcrumbs on fire than the crunchy, crispy breadcrumbs that I had hoped for!

On the second batch I placed the breadcrumb and parmesan mixture on top before placing them into the oven and had much more success. Probably more practical anyway, seeing as most people do not own a kitchen torch!

So for the final step of the Mini Buffalo Chicken Pot Pie making process mix together the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese and sprinkle on top of each little pot pie.

Place into the oven at 350° for 20 minutes. The last two minutes of the baking process switch the oven over to broiler on high to get that nice crispy top crust!

Sprinkle a few green onions on top for a little extra color and flavor!

Hi, I'm Whitney! I’m a sports-loving, coffee-drinking, food blogger, the host of “ 29 Minute Meals”, a contributing writer for TODAY Food, cookbook author and on camera food and lifestyle expert, regularly featured on news stations across the country! On my blog, you’ll find most recipes are made in 29 minutes or less, in one pot, or in a crock pot!
Learn More